Eating Adventure :: Laodong Beef Noodles in Rowland Heights, CA

On our way home, we made a quick grocery stop at one of those Asian markets to stock up on noodles (you all know by now how much I love me my ramen noodles! :) As we were entering the grocery store, I noticed that there was this tiny restaurant that specializes in noodles/dumplings and they had an open view of the kitchen and my inner 4-year old goes “Oooh this might be a good place to eat noodles”.

After grocery shopping, we headed into Laodong Beef Noodles (in Rowland Heights, CA). I love noodles. I especially love beef noodles from these Taiwanese/Chinese places. I don’t necessarily eat the beef (never touch it), but I do chow down on the noodles like there’s no tomorrow. Which sorta leads me back to my first point, I love noodles! Hehe :)

My criteria for what makes this place a “must go again” to a “ewww never again!” is the same for all noodles/dumpling places. I actually judge on 3 simple and classic dishes. Hmmm I was planning on saying writing something super witty and Anthony Bourdain-esque but the words are just not coming out. Well, if you’ve watched his “Shanghai” episode then you know that he orders these three particular dishes… the soup dumpling, beef noodles, and scallion pancake (I can’t remember if he eats this or not but I love these pancakes!).

First up, we have the soup dumpling! The soup dumpling is a steamed pork dumpling. If you’ve never had a soup dumpling before, I feel like a must warn you. At first bite, the natural juices from inside the dumpling will just ooze out and it’s hot… well, this is only true for good dumpling places or if you’re just eating randomly eating dumplings in Shanghai one day lol. (Note to self: put eating dumplings in Shanghai on bucket list). Sadly, this wasn’t necessary the case with the soup dumplings here at Laodong Beef Noodles. They weren’t really juicy and had a strange sour taste to the meat. Ughh, I hope I didn’t eat expired meat!!

Next up, the scallion pancake! Scallion pancakes are awesome! I actually have a recipe that I need to post soon!! Unlike a true pancake, this is made with dough rather than batter. There are variations but the most basic filling are scallions (aka green onions). A good scallion pancake, has a good dough to scallion ratio and is crispy. The scallion pancake I had here, was…well, they didn’t skimp on the green onions! They were extra generous because the whole thing was filled with green onions which resulted in a slightly mushy scallion pancake.

And now, the best for last…beef noodles! On the menu, it’s called Champion Beef Noodle in Clear Soup. The noodles were very yummy!!! Aside from that, there was nothing very “champion” like about these noodles. For the price ($6.99). I felt like I was being ripped off because they served it in a gigantic bowl but it was only filled halfway so that was misleading and disappointing. And there was hardly any hearty chunks of beef with the noodles. Now, I know I said I don’t eat the beef but I usually share with my dad and eat half (half always because I’m weird and like to eat half of everything lol), but there weren’t a lot of noodles anyways! He was disappointed too! He didn’t favor the broth, but I thought it was okay. And he made a very valid point, for $6.99 we could have just gone to the grocery store next door and buy the noodles ourselves (since that’s what I really like to eat anyways) and I’m sure that’s what they did.

Yelp gives Laodong Beef Noodles a 2.5 out of 5 stars. Read Yelp review here. I agree (and I’m only being generous with that extra 0.5 stars lol). If you know of any great dumpling places/beef noodle places in the LA-area, please let me know because I’m always on the hunt for a new one! The one I really like at the moment, is really dirty. Sigh, why do all the dirty places have to be so good??

Well at least you tried the place. Maybe after all the reviews they will step up their game. I always feel there is no excuse for serving bad food. Change your recipe or change your cook. It’s just mean to make us hungry for a specialty we cannot get everywhere only to have it be bad on top of it! I’m like you–i’m picky about meat at restaurants! At least the Champion actual noodles were good. Yummy i need that scallion pancake recipe when your ready to post it!